The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for dispensing materials and more particularly to a scheme whereby a patient may be force-fed despite a swallowing impairment, and to an air pump arrangement suitable for such force-feeding, and for other patient treatment purposes which may on occasion be used in a potentially flammable environment.
In emergency or operating rooms of hospitals it is not uncommon to encounter potentially flammable environments, for example when ether or oxygen are in use. While adequate safety guards are usually provided for these potentially flammable materials, an added safety margin accrues by using only arc or spark-free equipment in such environments.
Further, in the general medical arts, it may occur that a patient has a swallowing impairment due to any of a wide variety of reasons, such as unconsciousness, a stroke, paralysis of the esophagus or other peristalic dysfunctions requiring either intravenous feeding or feeding of a comestible material by way of a naso-gastric tube. An air pump may be advantageously employed for such force-feeding, and may also provide other patient treatment functions, including but not limited to urological irrigation.
Typically, swallowing impairments are bypassed by a naso-gastric feeding tube, with the flowable foodstuff being supplied thereto from a dispensing device solely by gravity flow. With such a gravity system, feeding is quite slow, with a typical meal requiring one-half hour or more to administer. Similarly, with a gravity flow system, tube or tube opening blockage occurs frequently, requiring removal of the feeding tube from the patient, and of course such a gravity feeding system is less liable to blockage and more readily administered when relatively thin watery foodstuffs are employed. Relatively viscous and not easily flowable nutrients are extremely difficult to administer, using such a gravity system.
The known prior art force-feeding arrangements also require the resterilization or replacement of numerous component parts, including the dispenser or container, subsequent to each feeding operation, and are in general not well suited to home use by the patient.